Chapter sixteen- words with a Dragon

'Shit!' Gabriel mentally cursed as he was blasted back before he could vibrate his whole body in time to avoid a blow from Smoker and ended up crashing into a stall at the side of the street.

He had been fighting Smoker for ten minutes by now after the others had ran on ahead, and things had been at a stalemate for most of the fight with neither of them being able to hit the other.

'So this is what it's like for two logia's fighting when neither has Haki, I'm not impressed' Gabriel thought as he got up and jumped out of the way as Smoker launched another plume of smoke at him.

'I need an edge, if this keeps up I'm gonna run out of steam and he'll gain the upper hand' Gabriel realised as he was starting to breath heavily after having lost count of the number of times he'd phased through smokers attacks.

'User Profile,' Gabriel mentally called knowing he needed to change things up if he wanted to win.

His screen appeared in front of him again and he quickly glanced to remind himself of his points only for his eyes to widen a fraction as he saw his points.

TP: 2

AP: 584

He blinked seeing that and grinned, he didn't know where the extra points had come from but at that moment he didn't care, 'System, put one hundred points into both Combat Strength, speed and a hundred into my Devil fruit' he mentally commanded and waited for the system to obey.

The next second he felt the same flood of information rush into his brain and his body pulsed as his muscles swelled slightly as his body grew stronger from the sudden rush of energy, he also felt his control over his devil fruit powers grow significantly as his body hummed with the energy of his devil fruit.

It only lasted a few seconds before it passed, but right then Gabriel knew it had given him an edge in this fight, he just needed to get lucky and land another hit, but he knew that Smoker wouldn't let him and would be on guard.

He needed to get out of there now.

It was the next second another screen came up in front of him and the words on it made him want to laugh.

Requirements met, Rokushiki (Six Powers) menu now unlocked, Soru available to unlock.

Gabriel didn't know what requirements he had met but he was damn happy he had, now things were going to go a whole lot different.

Smoker stood on the other side of the street panting with sweat visible on his forehead, he prided himself on not letting a single pirate through his town to reach the grand line, his logia devil fruit powers aided him in that. No one in this, the weakest of the seas, had the ability to even touch him when he was fighting seriously. The last pirate to give him this same kind of trouble had been that damn fire fist that had a logia power as well, and he went on to become the second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates.

No, he could not allow this one to escape, who knew how dangerous he would become if he reached the grand line. While it was true that most pirates died on the grand line it was also true that it was where the strong ones went to make a name for themselves and grow even stronger, and Gabriel was definitely the second one.

As he tried to get his breath back ready to go after Gabriel again, he froze as he saw Gabriel grin, he didn't like that, not one bit.

Gabriel stood up with a smirk after a moment and looked at smoker with amusement glinting in his eyes.

"Well Smokey it's been fun, but I think it's time we called it a day and finished this" Gabriel said as his fists shook with his power.

Smoker took a stance ready to attack as well, "I already told you, I'm not about to let you…" he began to say only for his words to die in his throat as Gabriel vanished.

Smokers eyes went wide as he didn't believe what he was seeing, "what the…" he said before Gabriel appeared again with his fist raised back.

Smoker didn't have time to react before Gabriel's fist smashed into his face and sent him flying backwards and crashing through a store front.

Smoker groaned as he reached up and gripped his head as he tried to process what had just happened, 'that was… soru, how did he…' he thought as he climbed to his feet and out through the front of the store he had crashed into but looking around he couldn't spot Gabriel anywhere in sight.

Smoker mashed his teeth in anger, "damn it"

Scene break

Gabriel came to a stop several rows of houses away panting heavily as he did so, 'damn it feels cheap hitting and running away like that but I can't beat him as I am right now, soru is just to draining to use repeatedly in a fight at my level of use, I'll need to train it some more to reduce the stamina drain before I can use it in a fight' he thought to himself as he tried to get his breath back.

As he did so he felt the wind pick up around him and he froze on the spot his breath caught in his throat as he felt the presence of someone behind him.

"Impressive" a gruff voice spoke, "you are an interesting one" the voice added.

Slowly Gabriel stood up and turned to find a cloaked figure standing behind him but Gabriel knew exactly who he was.

"Dragon," Gabriel said in a whispered voice.

Dragon smirked under his hood, "oh do you know me?"

Gabriel swallowed and nodded as he stood before one of the most notorious figures in the one piece series, he knew that Dragon appeared here in the series to save Luffy but he didn't think he'd actually get to meet him. "How could I not know the most wanted man in the world."

Dragon chuckled, "I suppose that's to be expected, tell me, why do you travel with that man, the one with the straw hat, you seem to be strong enough to fend for yourself"

Gabriel took a breath to steady his nerves, he knew he shouldn't be scared with his dream but with his current strength he had no doubt that Dragon could easily be able crush him with a single blow.

"We have similar dreams, Luffy wants to be the pirate king, and I want to be a Yonkō and the strongest in the world, we made an alliance to help each other achieve our dreams" Gabriel explained, his tone respectful.

Lightning flashed above as it began to rain heavily, the flash of light revealed Dragons grin under his hood, "I see, and do you honestly believe you can achieve your dreams, both are lofty goals, do you think you have what it takes to hold the title of Yonkō and the world's strongest?"

Gabriel set his jaw at that question, his fear fading slightly hearing the tone Dragon spoke with, it was like he found it amusing.

"Yes, I will achieve both and hold both greater than any before me, I will become a Yonkō and my empire will be greater than any other before me, I will not fail as long as I draw breath" Gabriel said his voice firm and hard with conviction.

Hearing his tone Dragon started to chuckle before bursting out into a cackling laugher, "you have spirit, just like him" he laughed before looking at Gabriel from under his hood before turning away, "then you had better get going then, I will look forward to watching both your journeys to achieve your lofty ambitions, in this world dreams are what makes a man, never forget that" he said as the lightning flashed again.

But before Gabriel could respond the winds picked up, Gabriel's eyes widened as he suddenly found himself lifted off his feet and thrown into the air by the winds and launched, all he could do was yell, "what the fuck!!!"

Scene break

Out at sea the going Merry was a hundred meters out from the shoreline and try as they might the Straw hats couldn't fight the currents and opposing winds that were pushing them out to sea.

"Damn it we can't leave yet, Gabriel isn't here yet" Luffy cursed as he tried to will the ship back to the land.

He Zoro and Sanji has been launched to the Merry just as it had been leaving where they had landed, Nami had made the decision to set sail as the winds and seas were too rough and if they stayed they risked damage to Merry.

"Hey I see something!" Usopp yelled as he used his new goggles to watch the shore, he had seen something launch into the sky from the town and was following it, "I think it's…." he began to say only to stop as they all heard someone yelling from above them.

"Ssssshhhhhhiiiiiiiit!!!!!"

Before Gabriel crashed into the merry landing in the tangerine trees at the back of the ship only fo fall out of them and land on his back with a groan.

"Damn….. that…. bastard…. Next time….. I see him…. I'm gonna…... kill him" Gabriel muttered his eyes swirling around having been sent flying uncontrollably from the middle of the town, it was like some sick amusement park ride being tossed around in the air like he had.

"Oh Gabriel you're here, shishishishi" Luffy chuckled seeing him lay on the deck of the ship groaning, "okay, set sail, next stop the grand line!!!!"

"Yeah!!!!!" The others all yelled while Gabriel just groaned as he gave up trying to get up and just lay there too exhausted to move.

Only for a screen to appear in front of him.

Quests complete

But he couldn't be bothered reading the rest and just closed his eyes. He had had enough for one day.